Bill C-42 (Historical)

An Act to amend the Canada Business Corporations Act and to make consequential and related amendments to other Acts

This bill is from the 44th Parliament, 1st session, which ended in January 2025.

Sponsor

Status

This bill has received Royal Assent and is now law.

Summary

This is from the published bill. The Library of Parliament has also written a full legislative summary of the bill.

This enactment amends the Canada Business Corporations Act to, among other things,
(a) require the Director appointed under that Act to make available to the public certain information on individuals with significant control over a corporation;
(b) protect the information and identity of certain individuals;
(c) add, or broaden the application of, offences and provide the Director with additional enforcement and compliance powers; and
(d) add regulatory authority to prescribe further requirements in certain provisions.
It also makes consequential and related amendments to other Acts.

Elsewhere

All sorts of information on this bill is available at LEGISinfo, an excellent resource from Parliament. You can also read the full text of the bill.

Bill numbers are reused for different bills each new session. Perhaps you were looking for one of these other C-42s:

C-42 (2017) Veterans Well-being Act

C-42 (2014) Law Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act

C-42 (2012) Law Enhancing Royal Canadian Mounted Police Accountability Act

C-42 (2010) Law Strengthening Aviation Security Act

Votes

June 22, 2023 Passed 3rd reading and adoption of Bill C-42, An Act to amend the Canada Business Corporations Act and to make consequential and related amendments to other Acts

June 20, 2023 Passed Concurrence at report stage of Bill C-42, An Act to amend the Canada Business Corporations Act and to make consequential and related amendments to other Acts

June 20, 2023 Failed Bill C-42, An Act to amend the Canada Business Corporations Act and to make consequential and related amendments to other Acts (report stage amendment)

June 19, 2023 Passed Time allocation for Bill C-42, An Act to amend the Canada Business Corporations Act and to make consequential and related amendments to other Acts

June 1, 2023 Passed 2nd reading of Bill C-42, An Act to amend the Canada Business Corporations Act and to make consequential and related amendments to other Acts

Debate Summary

This is a computer-generated summary of the speeches below. Usually it’s accurate, but every now and then it’ll contain inaccuracies or total fabrications.

Bill C-42 seeks to amend the Canada Business Corporations Act to create a publicly searchable registry of beneficial owners of federally incorporated companies, aiming to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, tax evasion, and tax avoidance. The bill requires individuals owning 25% or more of a corporation's shares to provide their information to the registry, and introduces penalties for non-compliance. While supported as a step in the right direction, concerns have been raised regarding the high ownership threshold, the exclusion of provincially incorporated companies, privacy implications for small business owners, and the need for greater interoperability with provincial registries and law enforcement access.

Liberal

Supports Bill C-42: The Liberal party supports Bill C-42, emphasizing its role in combating money laundering and illegal financial transactions. The bill demonstrates leadership and builds confidence in corporations by establishing a public, searchable ownership registry.
Collaboration with provinces: The legislation allows for provincial participation and complements existing provincial efforts, such as those in Quebec and British Columbia, to create a larger national registry.
Importance of trade: The bill is viewed as crucial for maintaining Canada's reputation in international trade by sending a message that Canada takes money laundering and terrorist financing seriously.
Corporate accountability: Bill C-42 aims to increase corporate accountability and public trust by requiring a public, searchable ownership registry, which will help prevent activities such as tax avoidance and money laundering.

Conservative

Supports the bill: Conservatives support establishing a beneficial ownership registry, viewing it as a major step forward in combating money laundering. However, they believe the current bill has shortcomings that need to be addressed to make it more effective.
Lower the threshold: Conservatives advocate for lowering the threshold for significant control from 25% to 10%. They argue that a lower threshold would reduce opportunities for criminals to circumvent the registry and align with standards used by the Ontario Securities Commission.
Improve interoperability: The Conservatives emphasize the importance of interoperability between the federal registry and provincial/territorial registries. They suggest changing clauses through the Criminal Code to ensure provinces that opt in to a federal registry impose the same penalties as federally registered corporations.
Enforcement access: Conservatives seek to ensure law enforcement has back-end access to the registry without having to go directly to corporations. They moved an amendment to ensure law enforcement could access information from the director rather than having to go to the corporations directly.

Was this summary helpful and accurate?

The House resumed from June 20 consideration of the motion that Bill C-42, An Act to amend the Canada Business Corporations Act and to make consequential and related amendments to other Acts, be read the third time and passed.

Canada Business Corporations ActGovernment Orders

June 22nd, 2023 / 12:05 a.m.

The Speaker Anthony Rota

Pursuant to an order made earlier today, the House will now proceed to the taking of the deferred recorded division on the motion at the third reading stage of Bill C-42.

Canada Business Corporations ActGovernment Orders

June 22nd, 2023 / 12:05 a.m.

Liberal

Steven MacKinnon Liberal Gatineau, QC

Mr. Speaker, I believe if you seek it, you will find unanimous consent to apply the results of the previous vote to this vote, with Liberals members voting in favour.

Canada Business Corporations ActGovernment Orders

June 22nd, 2023 / 12:05 a.m.

Conservative